Labor secretary sides with Shawnee Mission teachers, says new contract is ‘prohibited’
The Kansas Department of Labor sided with the Shawnee Mission teachers union on Friday, ruling that the school board committed a “prohibited practice” when it imposed a three-year unilateral contract.
The teachers union challenged the legality of the contract, which was approved by the school board on Jan. 30 after negotiations failed. The National Education Association-Shawnee Mission filed an emergency prohibited practice complaint with the labor department claiming the district did not have the authority to issue such a long-term unilateral contract.
The labor department agreed, stating that by imposing a three-year contract, the district denied the union its right to negotiate terms for the coming school years.
Unilateral contracts are typically put in place for one year. The labor department decided the first year of the contract, covering the current school year, is not prohibited.
But it ruled that the district must cease and desist from imposing the terms of the unilateral contract in the last two years: the 2020-2021 and 2021-2022 school years.
Linda Sieck, president of NEA-Shawnee Mission, previously called the three-year contract “unprecedented” — not only in the Shawnee Mission district, but across the state.
“We’re very excited and we’re hopeful that maybe this will give an opportunity for the district and union to come back to the table,” Sieck told The Star on Friday. “We believe we are very close and that we have resolved almost everything. We believe it would be in the best interest of all parties to come together and move forward.”
The school board imposed the three-year unilateral contract after negotiations — which included a state-mandated fact-finding session — dragged on for the entire school year. If the district would have adopted a one-year unilateral contract, negotiations for next school year would have likely begun next month.
“While the district disagrees with the decision, we remain committed to working with NEA-SM to resolve the matter of future compensation, benefits and working conditions,” district officials wrote in a statement. “As such, the district has reached out to (the Kansas National Education Association) to discuss the decision and will work to identify next steps.”
Officials said the district “continues to believe it is essential to reach agreement on a contract that is in the best interest of teachers and is fiscally responsible.”
Friday’s decision came up against the deadline for teachers to decide whether or not to accept the unilateral contract. The contract left teachers with three options: Accept it, continue working under last year’s contract or resign.
Monday night, Shawnee Mission teacher Amanda Coffman resigned in front of the school board, saying she could no longer work for a district that she feels has not listened to or respected teachers.
During negotiation sessions, the school district and union failed to agree on compensation increases and adjustments to teacher workload. Largely, the contract talks focused on how the district will spend $9.6 million in restored state funding. The unilateral contract dedicated 79% of that funding to teacher compensation.
The contract included a 1% base salary increase during this school year, a 1.25% bump next year and a 1.5% salary increase in the third year. It also stated the school board is committed to adjusting teacher workloads during next school year.
Teacher workload was a major sticking point during contract talks, as many secondary teachers instruct six out of seven periods each day. During a final negotiation session last month, the union offered a one-year contract with a 1.5% pay bump that excluded any demands related to workload.
Union leaders said at the time the short-term contract would allow teachers to be a part of strategic planning this spring, then negotiate again based on the outcome. Administrators have said the district will explore how to begin implementing workload changes during those planning sessions.
Instead, the district pushed for a three-year contract, with many officials hoping to move past the nearly year-long negotiations. Administrators said having a longer contract in place would allow the district to maintain a sustainable budget and implement workload adjustments over a longer period of time.
But in Friday’s ruling, the labor department stated that the school board’s argument showed “they considered the contract negotiations an impediment to more important efforts.”
It said the district’s “attempt to unilaterally impose the three-year contract was a deliberate attempt to remove the perceived impediment of subsequent annual contract negotiations.”
The department also questioned “why successful execution of the ‘strategic plan’ cannot include subsequent annual contract negotiations.”
During a conversation with The Kansas City Star Editorial Board last week, school board members defended the unilateral contract, saying it allowed the district to remain financially stable. The fact-finder report agreed with the district that the union’s recommended salary increases were “overly aggressive” and would jeopardize the district’s financial security.
The fact finder also sided with the district on workload, saying it is “not logistically possible to determine the specific hiring needs, hire the needed number of teachers and rearrange class schedules within this fiscal year.”
But after months of packed school board meetings, protests and student walk-outs, it appears the union and district will now return to the bargaining table.
Shawnee Mission school board member Mary Sinclair said last week that regardless of the outcome, the district needs to rethink the negotiation process.
“Whatever process we engaged in did not work effectively,” she told The Star. “So I hope there’s a common agreement that whenever we get back to the table that we have a different process going forward.”
This story was originally published February 14, 2020 at 4:49 PM.
